Saturday, September 16, 2017

Shopping at Colours...

This used to be the grass car park

Honestly, you get no posts for months and then two in a day! I was up early this morning to walk to the station (the Old Bat refused to drive me) to get over to Surbiton to meet up with Eric the Shed, who drove me to Colours with John, another Shedizen. Unlike Salute, which I go to on public transport, I always drove to Colours (last time I attempted it in 2015 I had to give up as the M25 was so bad) so I tend to focus on buying scenery when I go there. Since I went there last time in 2013, Newbury race course have built loads of flats (the sort that IT people live in) there, meaning a different way in and a more sophisticated car park. Good job Eric was driving as I wouldn't have found the way in at all. Fortunately. the M25 Gods smiled and we were there by just after ten.

I didn't take any pictures inside, partly because it was so dark (it made Salute look like a Hollywood sound stage in comparison) and partly because there was nothing to take pictures of, really. Some of the traders were in areas so dark that they looked like caves. My deteriorating eyesight struggled. The games, on the top of the three floors, looked rather dull and were right on top of each other, so getting at them was almost impossible. I always considered the show as number two after Salute and above Warfare in Reading, in ranking of those I go to regularly but this year it seemed a bit dingy and sad. Not what it was.

I didn't really have a shopping list except a vague plan to look at trees and I certainly wasn't really planning to buy any figures. The first thing I saw were some Congo style wooden shields at the Foundry stand. Now I have wanted these for some time but they weren't on the Foundry website so I was very glad to pick them up, despite the usurious price of £10 for 12 shields.

Having said I didn't like MDF for scenic basis I couldn't resist these for some intermediate follidge pieces. They are mid-way between my washer bases and the CD one I have made and are quite thin. I might try and sand the edges a bit as we have borrowed the Old Bat's father's corner sander. However, I have a fear of power tools, generally, so I will have to be brave as it is never as easy to use them as it appears. When it comes to using tools I am always seconds away from A&E.

Next up, were some trees for Africa. No acacia types but these have the requisite tall trunks and high canopies I was looking for. I need a lot more like this.

I wanted some big rocks for Savage Core as I had always liked the publicity shot they produced early on, of simians on a rock in the jungle. This, I suspect, from the cave/opening in it, started life as an aquarium piece but I was very happy to buy a based one. I then went back and bought another smaller rock. I will re-paint then and add some follidge.

When I got back home and looked at the Savage Core Facebook page I realised, to my delight, that the rock model I had bought was exactly the same as the one Lucid Eye had used. Very happy with this!

I did get a few figures. Recently, Lucid Eye have announced that the various factions for Savage Core will be appearing in cold weather Ice Age type garb, so I picked up the first of the Amazons (although heavily dressed Amazons goes against my aesthetic sensibilities). I had no idea why the range had a man dressed as a German officer holding a rock but the rules make it perfectly clear, so I picked him up too.

I got the Lucid Eye figures at the Crooked Dice stand, so took the opportunity to pick up the new female cultists who will probably see service in In Her Majesty's Name. I added nine figures to the lead pile but I really am going to start selling some unpainted figures off as I desperately need the space and Eric the Shed was appalled by the number of unpainted figures I have got. He reckons he has only about a hundred unpainted figures, whereas I think I have about eight thousand!

All in all, I was very happy with my purchases and it was very kind of Eric to give me a lift. I whizzed around the show pretty quickly and we left at about one o'clock. I had a chat with Eric and Matakishi, who I once played a game of Prehistoric Settlement with, at Guildford Wargames Club. Staggeringly, he remembered me! I also had a long chat and a bacon roll (my glamorous new doctor would not approve) with Mike of Black Hat Miniatures, who originally invited me to my first game at Guildford many years ago. This was all remarkably social for me!

Sadly (well actually not), we heard last night that we had won a big bid I did a lot of work on for Colombia, which means six to eight frantic weeks of work (I will try and avoid the Bogota section as I am due to go to Africa again in early November and, possibly, Central America later that month). It will put paid to my hoped for more hobby time, though. Tomorrow, I won't have any time either as I have to take Charlotte to the airport to go back to Edinburgh. She left it until the last minute (as she does with everything) to decide on her flight and, as a result, it cost me £293 single (British Airways are advertising flights to the US for £325 at the moment!) plus £60 excess baggage for an extra suitcase. Think how much follidge I could have bought for that. I could have got my naked girly statue for that too! The children's university accommodation is going to cost me about £15,000 this year. The least they could do is empty the dishwasher once in a while. Children! Who needs them?

Good haul there. Who were the trees from? They look quite handy for my own (eventual!) jungle project.

To bevel the edges of the MDF bases without power tools, you can use a sharp knife (a Stanley knife or boxcutter) and then smooth it using sandpaper. When cutting I'd recommend a cutting mat to protect your work surface and do wear a dust mask when sanding the MDF - the dust can be quite nasty if you breathe it in.

Excellent haul Mr L. The mean side of me looks forward to reportage of your attempt to use power tools - what could go wrong? However the nice side thinks you should follow the sage advice of Tamsin - just remember to push the knife away from you rather than towards you. Also putting the piece in a good vice will help immensely.

I'm back over in the UK in mid october - likely a few weeks - ant wargames shows the weekend of Oct 14th?

Why on earth would I have a vice? I have no tools! My son used asander the other week (I refused to sand the floor) and promptly chewed up his expensive polo shirt and wrecked my father in law's new sander.

SELWG at Crystal Palace is the following weekend. 22nd October. I don't usually go but I might this year, to continue my tree hunt.

It was an OK show but nothing special. I didn't go up to the third floor, how's that for enthusiasm?. The high point for me is meeting people I know so you added to my enjoyment. I'm flattered you remember the Prehistoric Settlement game (11 years ago?), that outing at Guildford was the only time it got played. It languished in boxes for another five or six years then I sold it on- at Colours funnily enough.

My first time at colours, it was a bit dark on the ground floor, if you're using a powered sander you need to fix the mdf down vice, clamp or screw it to something otherwise it's easy to take off the ends of your fingers which would be painful! Good luck! Best Iain

...I missed Colours this year - first time in 15+ years - so I can definitely tell you going is better than not going... I can also cheer you up by letting you know that my children neither empty or load the dishwasher.. you are not alone...